Joining The Dots
by Lamanth
Summary: DRABBLE COLLECTION – Two people, one couple, but so many facets to their relationship. Dotty. - Review, please.
1. Stay Now

**'Stay Now' by Jem**

Stay now, stay now,  
Just a little more,  
Coz this love, this love,  
Is what living's for,  
Stay now,  
Hide in bed, sheets overhead,  
Blocking out the sun,  
Feel like we are marooned at sea,  
Away from everyone,

* * *

_You should know better than anyone that I've fallen for you, but you too blinded by your own feelings to see. You don't and you're insane for going along with what you though we were doing. You really are crazy, you know that? But that's probably why I love you more than anyone else._

His hand snaked out and grabbed her writs as she tried to slip out of the bed without waking him. He knows she thought it was best to leave before he found her but now that the time has come he doesn't want to let her go.

_You're insane, Letty, but, as I said before, maybe that's why I love you so much. You're not like anyone else and that's way I'm so attached to you. You weren't supposed to be anything to me, but it didn't turn out that way, did it?_

Confused dark eyes fixed on his face, before flickering down to his hand and then back to his face. She had know what this was going into it, just a one time thing, and she had been willing to accept it if it meant she got to have just once.

_You're special, Letty, so I think I want you around for a long, long time._

"Stay with me." A soft whisper in the half-light and she let him pull her back under the covers and tight to his body.


	2. Too Hot

**'Too Hot' by Kool & The Gang**

Flyin' high we never took the time,  
To stop and feel the need,  
Funny how those years go by,  
Changing you, changing me,  
I remember love's fever,

* * *

Letty rubs her hands together vigorously, willing the feeling to return to the numb digits. Her breaths puff like little plumes of smoke. Almost solid enough to make an impact, she imagines, as they brush against Dom's slightly trembling lips.

"Are you cold?" She whispers and bringing hands that are closer to cold than they are warm to his cheeks.

Dom closes his eyes and leans into the touch. "No," he replies, even as his lips continue to tremble a little and his fingers dig with a little more force into her soft golden skin that is hidden underneath her sweater.

"I'm warm," He tells her, turning his face so that his lips brush first against the flat of Letty's thumb, the dip of her palm. Dom breaths hot, so hot against her cold skin that her own breath catches in response. "You cold?"

"No," She says thickly, leaning into him. Dom's lips are unsurprisingly as warm as the rest of him when Letty's meets them. "I'm warm too."

The remark is unnecessary and she knows it, but she says it anyway because she can't say what she really feels. Can't tell him that she feels so warm it feels like she is burning. That every time he touches her, no matter how fleeting the contact, it sets her inside ablaze.


	3. I Hate Everything About You

**'I Hate Everything About You' by Three Days Grace**

_Only when I stop to think,  
About you, I know,  
Only when you stop to think,  
About me, do you know,  
I hate everything about you,  
Why do I love you,  
You hate everything all about me,  
Why do you love me,_

* * *

She loves him but she hates him. She needs him and yet she wants to kill him. Those are the thoughts and feelings that fill her up every single day. Hs is a part of her but there are times when amputation sounds like heaven.

She loves him, because he really is a good person. He makes her smile and laugh. He makes her feel like the most beautiful woman that he has ever seen even when she is dirty and sweaty with engine oil smeared across her cheek. With him she only ever has to be herself.

She hates him, because he is arrogant and convinced that he knows better than anyone else. His twisted moral code demands the most ridicules and stupid of things. He never seems to think things through and they are always at each other's throats. And every day they always seem to find something new to fight about.

She needs him because she knows she couldn't live without him. Somewhere along the line he became more vital to her than the air she breaths and she thinks that she could endure anything as long as he was standing beside her.

She wants to kill him whenever he gets on her nerves, which is most of the time. They have always both had short tempers and he always knows just what to do to set her off. And he also knows just what to say to get her to forgive him, yet another thing she despises him for.

There's a thin line between love and hate, or so the saying goes but at times she wonders if there is really any difference between the two.


	4. Stickwitu

**'Stickwitu' by The Pussycat Dolls**

_Nobody's gonna love me better,  
I'ma stick wit you forever,  
Nobody gonna take me higher,  
I'ma stick wit you,  
You know how to appreciate me,  
I'ma stick wit you my baby,  
Nobody ever made me feel this way,  
I'ma stick wit you,_

* * *

"You gonna stick by me?"

He's been out of Lompoc three weeks the first time he asks her. They're working alone in the garage, trying to fix up some wreck of a car that a guy had brought it. And his eyes have hardly left her the whole time. The night before he had dreamt of her.

"Maybe."

Her reply sounds noncommittal, but she knows she will stand by him no matter what. In truth he knows it too but for reasons he can't put into words he needs to hear her say it.

"Maybe? That's all you're gonna give me. Maybe?"

She turns to him and shrugs, wiping her hands on the seat of her pants.

"Hey you want till death do us part show me a ring."

She's smiling at him, her tone all playful and teasing as she jokes with him.

-------

"Letty," She looks round at the sound of his voice. "You gonna stick by me?"

It's the following day and again the night before he dreamt of her. Horrid dreams of a world behind iron bars. A place where he can see her but is not able to reach out and touch her. A cold miserable place where he can't recall the sound of her voice or the taste of her lips.

"Dom…" She starts, but stops when he tosses a small black box to her. She doesn't need to open it to know what's inside. "Maybe."

This time it's all the answer he needs, the weekend will see them in Vegas and then nothing will ever take her from him.


	5. I Need You

**'I Need You' by LeAnn Rimes**

_You're my only reason,  
You're my only truth,  
I need you like water,  
Like breath, like rain,  
I need you like mercy,  
From heaven's gate,  
There's a freedom in your arms,  
That carries me through,  
I need you,_

* * *

Maybe he always needed her more than she really needed him. She wanted him, loved him, longed to be with him, but she hadn't needed him. Not the way that he needed her. Perhaps she had never even really needed him at all.

And he just didn't know how it was that he had been blind to the fact that Leticia Ortiz was the one thing he had needed all this time. Everything else was just all added extras, things that make the world a brighter place. She made up his world he had just never known it.

It was hard to recall that there had ever been a time when they were apart, a time before she was part of his life. It seemed as if she had always been there, day in and day out, and maybe that was the key. She had always been there, it was impossible for him to imagine her not being there, and so he had taken it for granted that she would always be beside him.

And it wasn't until she was gone that he finally understood why he could never picture his life without her in it, because without her it wasn't really life it was just a hollow existence.

She would have been better with him, made him better. Things would have been so different if she had been with him. But he had been too blind to see that until it was all too late. Maybe if he had just realised sooner how much he needed her next to him it would have been all right. She wouldn't have ended up dying alone on an empty road because she had tried to bring him home.

Maybe they could have been together forever and always and in the end she would have come to need him just as much as he needed her.

But he was too blind to see that and now that future was forever lost to them both.


	6. Runaway

**'Runaway' by Avril Lavigne**

_I just wanna scream and lose control,  
Throw my hands up and let it go,  
Forget about everything and runaway yeah,  
I just want to fall and lose myself,  
Laughing so hard it hurts like hell,  
Forget about everything and runaway yeah,_

* * *

She keeps going because that's the option that she has. Letty has never been the type to sit around and feel sorry for her self; it is a pointless exercise that achieves nothing. So she doesn't get sad or afraid, instead she gets angry because she can work with that. As long as she is mad then she can blast through any and every obstacle that stands in her way.

If she lets her fury take can control then Letty can forget how much it hurts to see Dom with a different girl draped over him every other day. Pretend that she doesn't want to scream until her lungs burst, yelling at the whole damn world that life isn't fair. Wanting to scream because things shouldn't cause her this much pain.

It would be so easy to runaway from him, it is easy to run but it's hard to stay away because even when she wants to Dom always seems to find some way or other to drag her back. And Letty laughs so hard that it hurts, laughs until the tears roll down her cheeks because of how cruel the world is. He doesn't really want her, but he won't let her go.

On and on it goes, round and round in a never-ending circle until Letty isn't sure who is really chasing whom anymore. Is she trying to catch up to him or runaway from him? It's insane because she knows what she wants, knows who she wants, but she's too afraid to do anything about it. He doesn't want her to stay, but he won't let her brake away either so she just keeps on running.

"Letty," His voice is confused and hurt and when he pulls her around she can see the feelings reflecting in his eyes. "Why d'you keep doing this?"

"Doing what?" She questions, though part of her alreadys knows. The same part that is so aware of the heat of his palm against her bare arm. "I don#t know what you're talking about.!

"Yes you do." And there is a challange in his tone as he shakes her, his pain clearly visible in bitter chocolate eyes. "Why d'you keep running away from me? Don't you want me?"


	7. Chyna Girl

'**Chyna Girl' by Sweetbox**

_You live you learn  
And right now my scarlet letter burns  
But I won't hide  
I'll face what's mine_

_Lies on my breath,_

_I am drowning in my dread  
The wind is getting strong_

* * *

His lips press urgently against hers, his hands at the small of her back, wanting to melt her body into his. Wanting to forget, if only for a moment, who it is that he his holding in his arms. Silently he wills her body to morph into that of another. The one he can no longer have.

His hand flutters to her right breast but quickly falls down to place itself on her hip. She won't let him do that. Not unless her bloodstream is saturated with alcohol will she let him touch her the way he so desperately wants to. With her it always has to be soft and gentle, she wants to be treated as if she is made from glass.

He imagines that the soft high moans he's hearing to sound more primal. Deep and throaty, rough with need like a wild cat in heat wailing at the moon. He breaks the kiss and looks deeply into the insipid eyes and briefly imagines them darker, tinged with lust and anger. For some reason, anger was always a turn on for her.

And the last time they were together, when the fury boiled like fire in her veins is indelibly burned into his memory. His confession of infidelity, her howls of rage and the explosive conclusion of their relationship. The burning pain as her nails scored red lines across his back.

He wants for the slight frame in his arms to be taller and firmer and impose a challenge on him, to question his masculinity. But Tran's china doll sister isn't like that at all. She wants to be the damsel in distress rescued by a handsome prince; there is no fight in her, no challenge, nothing at all. She is nothing more than a hollow reminder of what he has lost.

Letty's question comes back to taunt him. _Are you thinking of me when you screw her?_ Her voice heavily laced with scorn, acid dripping from her words. _D'you close your eyes a picture me? Imagine that it's me fucking you senseless in a way she never can?_

_Yes, Letty._ He cries out mentally because he won't allow himself to really shed tears over what has happened. _Goddamn it all, but yes it is._


	8. 21 Questions

**'21 Questions' by 50 Cent Feat. Nate Dogg**

_If I feel off tomorrow would you still love me?  
If I didn't smell so good would you still hug me?  
If I got locked up and sentenced to a quarter century,  
Could I count on you to be there to support me mentally?  
If I went back to a hoopty from a Benz, would you poof and disappear like,  
some of my friends?  
If I was hit and I was hurt would you be by my side?  
If it was time to put in work would you be down to ride?_

* * *

"Dom, what is it about me?" Her voice is soft and there is and undercurrent of uncertainty that he has never heard from her before. "Why d'you want me when you could have your pick from all the others?"

"Where do I begin?" His brow creased slightly as he studied her face intently as if he were seeing it for the first time. "Letty, to me you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen and you always will be."

"Even when I'm sweating like a pig and covered in grease and oil?" She countered and the old fire was back in her voice.

"Especially then. Haven't you even wondered why I let you work on my car so much?" The infamous Toretto shit eating grin was pulling at his mouth. "It's because it's the sexiest sight there is. The two hottest rides in the world."

She chuckled low in the back of her throat at that, dark eyes dancing with humour.

"But more than that you're smart. You're strong, you're determined. You're kind, but you won't take crap from anyone, not even from me." Carefully he brushed a loose strand of hair from her face. "You're loving and loyal and would do anything for someone you cared about."

"I think I see…" Her words were almost lost in the darkness.

"No you don't." And there was something fierce in his voice, as if he had to prove something to her. "I want you because you are you. You're not like any of the others and that's why I love you. You look at me and see me. You just want me, just the way I am. Not the king of the streets or any of the other shit, just me."

"You love me because I'm me and because I'm me I love you just the way you are?"

His answer was a tender kiss and a murmured, "That's my girl."


	9. Good Girls Go Bad

**'Good Girls Go Bad' by Cobra Starship feat, Leighton Meester**

_I heard that you were trouble,  
But I couldn't resist,  
I make them good girls go bad,  
I make them good girls go,  
Good girls go bad,_

* * *

It has taken Letty years to become proud of who she is.

It wasn't exactly an easy task for her, especially growing up with three older brothers who all of whom regarded her as some soft of freak simply because she was female. She had had to go through a lot of haircuts, up to and including buzz cuts and Mohawks. A lot of clothing choices, from short skirts to boiler suits, and a lot of makeup sets before she became proud of who she was, in all her near flat-chested, feminine glory.

She was hot headed and head strong and loud and, at times, obnoxious. She was too much of a primmest for the liking of most people she had contact with. And she was always convinced _she _was right and everyone _else _was wrong. She annoyed the girls in her classes, by being dismissive of the things they liked. As if she cared what this or that celebrity was doing. She annoyed her teachers by being precociously bright and never missing an opportunity to question them.

And no matter how hard she tried she would never really be able to pull off yellow.

Letty knew all this, and she doesn't give a damn, not now anyway. It has taken her years, and a very special team of people, to get to the stage of self-respect she has at this moment. And she is not going to let anyone, not even herself, take that away from her.

So when she finally does get out of her car, rebuilt by herself and the rest of team Toretto, she is un-surprised to find the streets packed with the sort of people she has no time for. Guy trying to be something they're not and hardly dress skanks with no self-respect. She doesn't even flinch unlike the rest of her team, who have all experienced her temper first hand, when a skeletal redhead drapes herself over Dom and fixes Letty with a filthy look.

"So this is who you've been hanging around with lately Dom." He doesn't seem happy about the attention and pushes the, now pouting, girl off. "And I thought you had taste when it came to the girls you hung with."

"Funny," Letty says, wrinkling her nose with distaste, while Dom loops his arm around her waist. "I was just thinking the very same thing."

"I do have good taste." He whined, something that was dangerously close to a pout now adorning his lips as he turned hurt eyes to Letty.

She arched one dark brow at him, not taken in for a moment by his 'poor Dominic' routine. "Sure you do, Dom."

"Yeah I do and you know it." One arm pulled her close while the other vanished into her hair even as he buried his face in her neck. "I found you in the end didn't I?"


	10. Poison

'**Poison' by Alice Cooper**

_Your cruel device,  
Your blood, like ice,  
One look could kill,  
My pain, your thrill,_

* * *

This is one of those times where I want to never want to forgive you for something that you have some control over, though how much is debatable. It's also one of those times when I have no choice but to forgive you because that is what is right.

You acted with the best of intentions doing what you perceived to be the right thing. Sacrificing that which you wanted in order to protect the one that you care about. A twisted moral code that will ultimately destroy all that you ever strived to be.

When humans made up the rules for society and gentile situations, they assumed the order would apply to every circumstance with few exceptions. Either they were dead wrong or this has become one of the rarest exceptions unimagined and visited in thoughts only when necessary.

Love can be such a dreadful thing, such an inspiring thing that it lets your spirit soar and then lets go mid-flight so that you fall to your early death. Your body may well continue, your mind stuck in its routine, but your heart will forever lie broken in the dust. Sometimes a passer-by can breathe some water back into your thirst, but it's always enough to give your heart a few beats before it is exhausted again.

You seek anything and everything in the hope of finding something, yet knowing that it is pointless because that which you want, which you need, is forever lost to you. Pull your pick from my house of cards, or I shall from yours and thus you will collapse. But down, down, down we both fall together and neither will ever truly rise again.

Perhaps my love is poison, a vice to drive you mad. I dare to wonder if it will be the death of you. I do believe it is the death of me, the single cause as to why I lay here upon the dust waiting for the inevitable end. Staring at a black sky and shivering in the light of dying stars I can't help but think that it is all too late.


End file.
